The GCW Tour, Budapest: Second Sight

I'm pleased to report that as you ride a taxi away from the airport, Budapest stops looking like SeaTac (the occasional Burger King or McDonald's notwithstanding). I haven't seen much of it yet, but the parts I have seen would certainly land it near the top of the more attractive European cities. I'm a sucker for any place that's got infrastructure that's been around for more than a century combined with lots of greenspaces, and Budapest has got both in spades.

But of course it turns out that we're not actually staying in Budapest. Instead, we're at the Petnehazy Club Hotel, which seems to be where Hungarians go to get away from the city and where Europeans and the odd American (that would be us) go to be a short bus ride to the city. 

Not exactly what I was expecting, but actually kind of pretty...

Indoor pool and wet sauna under the reception area. You
can also get a massage: the kind you can tell your spouse about
from the hotel, and the kind you can't by calling one of the women
whose card is hanging on the rack in the distance behind Dave.

Home sweet home.

Dave's ready to get domestic.

Oooh, rustic.

Dave gets his own bed.

Private dry sauna in the bathroom...

...big enough for a party.